ANTHEM PRESS INFORMATION SHEET

  Blood on the Stone

Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade
Ian Smillie

Pub Date: August 2010 Category: HISTORY / Africa / General

Binding: Paperback BISAC code: HIS001000
Price: £16.99 / $29.95 BIC code: HBJH
ISBN: 9780857289636

Extent: 252 pages Rights Held: World

Size: 216 x 140mm / 8.5 x 5.5

Description
A gripping account of the cartel, warlords, gun runners and shadowy traders who populated
Africa’s bloody diamond wars, and the faltering, decade-long effort to clean up an entire industry.

‘Required reading for anyone who still believes the diamond trade is only about love, honor and trust… A
devastating, important work… Read this before you buy another diamond.’ —Greg Campbell, co-author of
Flawless: Inside the World’s Largest Diamond Heist

‘A masterly account of the dark side of the diamond trade. Smillie’s scalpel has cut very deep.’ —Matthew Hart,
author of Diamond: the history of a cold-blooded love affair

‘Smillie’s compelling narrative of the journey from teacher to prosecutor is touching and breathtaking.’ —Peta
Thornycroft, award-winning Zimbabwean journalist

Africa’s diamond wars took four million lives. Blood on the Stone tells the story of how diamonds came to be so
dangerous, describing the great diamond cartel and a dangerous pipeline leading from war-torn Africa to the
glittering showrooms of Paris, London and New York. It describes the campaign that forced an industry and more
than 50 governments to create a global control mechanism, and it provides a sobering prognosis on its future.

Readership: An educated general readership interested in conflict diamonds, modern African history and the
diamond trade; students and scholars of African history, conflict prevention, corporate social responsibility and the
role of extractives in international development; NGOs with interests in Africa and campaigning; the diamond
industry; governments concerned with similar issues; other extractive industries.

Contents
Glossary; Preface; Prologue; 1. Of Judgement and Cunning Work: Dirty Diamonds; 2. The River of Big Returns:
Geology and History; 3. De Beers: The Delicate Equipoise; 4. Strange Plumbing: The Diamond Pipeline; 5. Angola:
Another Distracting Sideshow; 6. Liberia and the Love of Liberty; 7. Sierra Leone: Diamonds in the RUF; 8.
President Mobutu’s Ghost; 9. Enter al Qaeda; 10. Boiling Frogs: Companies in Hot Water; 11. Ice Storm: The NGO
Campaign; 12. Kimberley: A Hope In Hell; 13. Endgames; Epilogue; Bibliography

About the Author

Ian Smillie has lived and worked in Africa and Asia as a teacher, consultant, investigator and writer. For the past
ten years his career has focused on blood diamonds, the wars they fuelled and a scheme designed to stop them. This
has taken him from the jungles of West Africa to the backstreets of Antwerp and a war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, where he was the first witness in the trial of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. Ian Smillie was appointed to
the Order of Canada in 2003.

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